26 April 2009

These few details I found inside a small early 1900's photograph album that held 91 very small black & white candid photographs. Not much to go on to find out who this family were but nevertheless I wanted to give it a go.

I searched on FreeBMD for a Josephine Lonergan, absolutely no luck at all. I searched in the 1901 census, again no luck. Then I took all the photos out of the album to look at the backs and on the last page I found hidden underneath the last photo another five small photos plus a small business card:-

The five photos were all of this man with five young women, they were all dressed in black and he had a black armband so fairly obvious the photos were taken at a funeral wake. I didn't have much luck finding out who Mr A M Gregg was either. On the CWGC website I did find an entry for an Arthur Malcolm Gregg who died in 1942 aged 23, he was a pilot in the Royal Air Force 273 Sqdn. However, I realised the dates didn't fit as he wouldn't have been born when most of these photos were taken.

I wondered why the five photos and the card had been hidden because they really didn't seem to me to have been something someone shouldn't have. An affair of the heart perhaps? So in a burst of new enthusiasm I searched FreeBMD for a marriage between a Lonergan and a Gregg - BINGO!

Yes! Next onto the census, no luck couldn't find Josephine in any census, tried all sorts of spellings. By now I'm just about to give up and put the album away for another year when I decided to have a look at the 1911 census and found her on the first search!

So now I know where she was born and who her parents were I look again in the earlier census and find them in 1881, 1891 & 1901. They were listed in the index under Lavergne in 1891 and Lanagan in 1901!

In 1901 Bella & Margaret had moved away from home and there was a new daughter May aged 8.

The same five daughters were all still living at home in 1911 & single. If I have the right family then these are the five daughters:-

But then again they could be five of any of the seven daughters because I think the funeral might have been for their father who died in the first quarter of 1919. The man with the black armband is probably home from the war on compassionate leave, even though the fighting had stopped just a few months before, the final Peace Treaty wasn't signed until June 1919.

Father, Patrick Lonergan (or Lonegan) was born in Ireland about 1850, he married Annie Leadbetter in 1874 in the Prescott registration district of Lancashire, he died aged 68 in 1919. Patrick was a gardener and the family were living in Great Crosby, Lancashire at varying addresses in each census.

Bella the eldest daughter I found in the 1901 census living in Everton, Lancs, with her one month old daughter Dorothy Josephine, lost sight of Bella after that.

Daughter Margaret was 16 in 1901 and working as a childrens' nurse in Southport, Lancs, nothing further found on her either.

Daughter Theresa married James Long in 1925.

Daughter Gertrude married James A Lutas in 1914.

Daughter Josephine married Arthur M Gregg in 1925.

Daughter May might have married Frank Cole in 1922.

The following photos are just a few of the 96 in the album showing a cross section of the people in it. I would dearly love to find someone connected to this family to pass the album onto, surely there are a few descendants from so many daughters. I have no idea how the album ended up in NZ, a search of the NZ records turns up nothing that I can see.

That's a third of the photos, perhaps I'll post the rest another day and keep my fingers crossed that someone somewhere someday may stumble across my blog and recognise them.

What I know of the Lonergan Family Tree can be seen on WorldConnect here.